School District 54 elections (2017)
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Four seats on the School District 54 school board were up for at-large general election on April 4, 2017. In their bids for re-election, incumbents Bob Kaplan and Charlotte Kegarise faced challengers Jim Pye, Matthew Saternus, and Kenneth Van Dyke.[1] Kaplan and Kegarise won re-election to their seats, and Pye and Van Dyke won the other seats on the ballot.[2]
Kaplan and Saternus participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. Click here to read their responses.
Elections
Voter and candidate information
The School District 54 Board of Education consists of seven members elected at large to four-year terms on a staggered basis every odd-numbered year. A general election was held on April 4, 2017. There were four seats up for election.[3]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file a notarized statement of candidacy and notarized nominating petitions with the Cook County Clerk's Office during the filing period. The filing period began December 12, 2016, and ended December 19, 2016. Candidates could also file an optional loyalty oath at that time. A statement of economic interests also had to be filed by December 19, 2016. The nominating petitions had to include the signatures of 50 voters residing in the school district and could not be circulated until September 20, 2016.[4]
Candidates and results
At-large
Results
| School District 54, At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
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| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Bob Kaplan Incumbent |
22.57% | 5,785 |
| Charlotte Kegarise Incumbent |
22.40% | 5,742 |
| Kenneth Van Dyke |
21.23% | 5,442 |
| Jim Pye |
16.89% | 4,328 |
| Matthew Saternus | 16.64% | 4,264 |
| Write-in votes | 0.27% | 69 |
| Total Votes | 25,630 | |
| Source: Cook County Clerk, "Consolidated Election April 4, 2017 Summary Report," accessed April 19, 2017 | ||
Candidates
Bob Kaplan 
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Charlotte Kegarise
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Jim Pye
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| Matthew Saternus | Kenneth Van Dyke
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Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Illinois elections, 2017
The School District 54 Board of Education election was the only election on the ballot for voters that reside in the school district boundaries.[5]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for Illinois school board elections in 2017:[6]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| December 19, 2016 | Candidate filing deadline |
| February 27, 2017 | Initial campaign finance deadline |
| March 7, 2017 | Last day to register to vote by paper application |
| March 19, 2017 | Last day to register to vote by online application |
| April 3, 2017 | Final election campaign finance deadline |
| April 4, 2017 | Election Day |
Endorsements
The local teachers' union endorsed all five candidates in this race.[7]
Campaign finance
School board candidates in Illinois were required to file campaign finance reports if they did one or both of the following:[8]
- Accepted contributions or made disbursements in an aggregate amount of more than $5,000 during the calendar year
- Accepted contributions or made disbursements in an aggregate amount of more than $5,000 during the calendar year for communication via television, radio, or internet in support of or in opposition to a candidate, political party, or public policy
The first campaign finance deadline was February 27, 2017, and the second campaign finance deadline was April 3, 2017.[9]
Reports
No contributions or expenditures were reported in the election, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.[10]
Past elections
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What was at stake?
Report a story for this election
Ballotpedia researches issues in school board elections across the United States, but information availability is a challenge for us in many school districts. Please contact us about the issues that impact your local school district. Note that not all submissions may meet Ballotpedia's coverage requirements for inclusion.
Candidate survey
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Ballotpedia invites school board candidates to participate in its annual survey. |
Survey responses
Two candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from incumbent Bob Kaplan and challenger Matthew Saternus.
Hope to achieve
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Kaplan stated:
| “ | I hope to continue the excellence of our school district in providing instruction and focusing on student improvement. I want to maintain our excellent balanced budgets and continue to improve all our students opportunities to learn. We need to close achievement gaps in all of our subgroups. I want School District 54 to be the best district it can be. Our community deserves no less than that from our Board.[11] | ” |
| —Bob Kaplan (February 23, 2017)[12] | ||
When asked what he hoped to achieve if elected to the school board, Saternus stated:
| “ | My priority as a board member will be to maximize student achievement. To that end, the board’s focus must be on class size and maintaining teacher quality. District 54 has a tremendous staff of gifted, committed teachers. It will be my mission to make sure that we retain our great teachers and help them to enhance their skills throughout their career in District 54. District 54 is in an enviable position financially. As a small business owner, I understand the importance of maintaining fiscal discipline to protect our district against uncertainty at the state level while using our resources to maintain a high level of achievement.[11] | ” |
| —Matthew Saternus (March 24, 2017)[13] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays their rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||||
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| Issue | Kaplan's ranking | Saternus' ranking | ||
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Improving relations with teachers | ||||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Improving post-secondary readiness | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidates were asked to answer nine multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to their responses can be found below.
About the district
- See also: School District 54, Illinois
School District 54 is located in Cook County in northeastern Illinois. The county seat is Chicago. Cook County was home to 5,238,216 residents in 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[14] The district was the 13th-largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 14,268 students.[15]
Demographics
Cook County outperformed the rest of Illinois in terms of higher education achievement in the years 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 35.8 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 32.3 percent of all state residents. The median household income for Cook County was $55,251, while it was $57,574 for the entire state. The poverty rate was 16.2 percent, compared to 13.6 percent statewide.[14]
| Racial Demographics, 2015[14] | |||
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| Race | Cook County (%) | Illinois (%) | |
| White | 65.7 | 77.3 | |
| Black or African American | 24.2 | 14.7 | |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8 | 0.6 | |
| Asian | 7.4 | 5.5 | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
| Two or more races | 1.9 | 1.9 | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 25.2 | 16.9 | |
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms School District 54 Illinois election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| School District 54 | Illinois | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cook County Clerk, "Candidate Filing for April 4, 2017 Consolidated Election," accessed December 20, 2016
- ↑ Cook County Clerk, "April 04, 2017 Consolidated General Election Search for Results," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ School District 54, "Board of Education," accessed December 19, 2016
- ↑ Cook Count Clerk, "Candidates' Guide," accessed December 19, 2016
- ↑ Cook County Clerk, "Candidate Filing for April 4, 2017 Consolidated Election" accessed December 20, 2016
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Election and Campaign Finance Calendar," accessed December 19, 2016
- ↑ Northwest Suburban Education Coalition, "School Board Candidate Endorsements," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "A Guide to Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed January 5, 2017
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Election and Campaign Finance Calendar 2017," accessed January 5, 2017
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate Disclosure Search," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Bob Kaplan responses," February 23, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey, "Matthew Saternus responses," March 24, 2017
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 United States Census Bureau, "Cook County, Illinois," accessed December 29, 2016
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data, file ccd_lea_052_1414_w_0216161a, 2014-2015," accessed November 16, 2016
| School District 54 elections in 2017 | |
| Cook County, Illinois | |
| Election date: | April 4, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Bob Kaplan • Incumbent, Charlotte Kegarise • Jim Pye • Matthew Saternus • Kenneth Van Dyke |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
